The world was handed a shock on Friday, August 12 when prominent author and Booker Prize winner, Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the neck by an unknown man at an event in the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York. The 75-year-old acclaimed author was supposed to deliver a speech at the Chautauqua Institution when he was stabbed on stage.

While Rushdie has been one of the most famous authors in the last couple of decades, he did not rise to fame with his first novel. However, his second novel, Midnight’s Child, elevated him among the greats and helped him win the Booker Prize. However, it was his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, that brought him to the centre of a worldwide controversy, resulting in him receiving death threats for several years.

Since Rushdie’s stabbing, questions are emerging about whether the attack on him was a result of The Satanic Verses and the uproar it caused since its publication in 1988 or not.

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As mentioned above, The Satanic Verses is the fourth novel of prominent author Salman Rushdie, which was published on September 26, 1988. It was inspired by the life of prophet Muhammad and similar to his other books, Rushdie focused on contemporary events and personalities to create the characters in the book.

The title of the book is a reference to a group of verses from the Quran about three pagan goddesses from Mecca, who are Allat, Al-Uzza and Manat.

The novel invited stark criticisms from the Islamic community all around the world for alleged blasphemy. Rushdie was accused of misusing the freedom of speech. Soon, the book was banned in Pakistan and India, where Rushdie was born.

However, the controversy reached a critical juncture when Iran’s late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa against him and called for his death. It was at this time that the British government under the leadership of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher provided the author with protection.

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While Iran issued a statement in 1998, saying the fatwa will be revoked, the country’s state news agency later reported that it would remain in place as a fatwa can only be revoked by the person who issued it and Khomeini had died much before.

The Satanic Verses resulted in many assassinations and murder attempts on Salman Rushdie. The novel has since been banned in several countries around the world including in Kenya, Thailand, Tanzania, Indonesia, Singapore and Venezuela apart from India and Pakistan.